Monday 2 June 2014

Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 152

                 ‘Apparently so,’ I say. I pass over the nail.

                ‘Why are you here?’ she asks. She curses again. She scratches the floor. ‘No, no,’ she says. ‘Are you here to help me?’

                I clang once for yes. We didn’t come specifically for that purpose, but the woman seems harmless. The council clearly likes imprisoning the helpless, I’m going to stand by and let them.

                She claps her hands together. ‘Thank the lord,’ she says. ‘The lord. There’s a funny concept. Is there a lord?’ I wonder if she’s asking me. I don’t know the answer so I give no reply.

                ‘I’ll take that to mean there’s as much mystery in the afterlife as the former one.’

                I nod in agreement despite the fact that she can’t see me.

                The door clicks open just as we hear a groan from Yates’s cell. He sniffs and he whimpers and I know we have to show him we’re here.

                ‘Keep talking to her,’ I say.

                I run back to Yates’s cell. ‘Yates!’

                ‘Easton?’ Yates wipes the tears from his eyes again. I think he might have aged a couple of years since we last saw him. I don’t mention it. It just means his facial hair is more pronounced. He’s grown into his body. Maybe this is the body Yates would have had without all the abuse. ‘I didn’t think I’d see you again.’

                ‘Didn’t think I was going to leave a man behind did you?’ I smile. Elle throws me the nail. I begin working on the lock.
                ‘Well, no. O-of course not.’ Yates stutters on his words and I see a smile. He did think that, but he’s happy I proved him wrong. Maybe I am Penny obsessed sometimes. Maybe I should just leave things to fate. It’s difficult but there’s more to life. A year of searching has proved fruitless. Maybe moving on is the best thing to do. Not moving on from my love for her, or finding someone else, right now that’s not what I want. But if I move on from the search maybe my friends could move with me.

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